>> i'll take a minute. >> i many timer has 55 seconds. >> that will be one of my best assets if i'm able to debate obama. our bill dealt with 8% oof the population and said to them, if you can pay, don't count on the government, take personal responsibility. we didn't raise taxes, mr. president. you raise taxes $500 billion. we didn't cut medicare. one president in modern history cut medicare, mr. president. and i'll say why didn't you give me a call and i'll tell you what to do right and what not to do. we dealt with 8%, he dealt with 100% of people. he said im. >> going to change health care for all of you. on day one, i'll direct the secretary of health and human services to grant a waiver from obama care to all 50 states.

it's got to be stopped and i know better than most. and that's it, the south carolina republican forum hosted by senator jim demint. we want to welcome our viewers. i wolf blitzer in "the situation room." donna brazill is with us. let's get immediate reaction to what we heard from the five republican candidates over the past two hours. donna, let me start with you. you're a good democrat. you heard from the five republicans. they're pretty much on most of the issues on the same page. a page being very different than the page that the president of the united states is on. >> south carolina will hold the first primary in the deep south next february. it's a very important state for the republicans. what you saw today is michelle bachmann, mitt romney, newt gingrich, ron paul, of course, and her main cain present the ideas to jim demint. he's a heavyweight, he's a tea party favorite, and what they were running today for was not

president of theite, but president of the tea party. >> all right, let's get a different analysis, i assume from will cane. what did you see and what did you like and didn't like? >> i thought here's going to be friendly questions from the same side of the aisle. i was wrong. this was questions of, do you understand what you're out there selling? do you understand the values of your philosophy? the best example of that is federal limit. it's an important concept to conservatives. michelle bachmann, she's ready to use the federal government and she talked about it with mitt romney's health care mand and said it was unconstitutional. deposit that against the interesting debate that ron paul and mitt romney had over the 14th amendment and federalism. you see two very different types of candidates there. >> and john king, you were

there. you were anchoring our coverage down there in south carolina. let's just review for our viewer, basically the mod rerats had the same questions for all five of these candidates. they were in a sequestered room. they couldn't hear what the competition was asking. >> they could not hear and will make the very important point. we're still in the republican primary season here. and as the republican primary voters, these views on the role of the federal government, whether it be on military policy. you heard whether it's on military policy or the social issues, gay rights, abortion rights, individual freedoms, it's an important issue too many republican voters. mitt romney made a decision at the very end and with 55 seconds left, he got to address his

biggest obstacle and that's the massachusetts health care plan. he welcomed that opportunity today to appeal to these conservative voters. i think this event was defined by differences on the role of government among these five republicans and also defined by the very last minute decision of sixth candidate, the texas governor rick perry to return to texas because of the wildfires. a perry appearance on the same stage as romney would have added some prestigious to this event, if you will. some of the stakes to this event, but still an interesting opportunity to watch these five candidates on labor day outline pretty stark differences. >> what does it say of rick perry's decision to go back to texas. he obviously has a full-time job there. >> he said if rick perry would have stayed he would have let him speak first and then go back

after that, but he also said he understood. his primary responsibility is to be the governor of texas. governor perry just entered the race, wolf, a couple of weeks is already viewed as the fro front-runner here in south carolina. it believes that iowa and new hampshire win on the field. south carolina picks republican nominees. and the last five times, there have been contested republican races. that has certainly proven the case. it would have been interesting to see governor perry on that stage for the first time in such a pivotal state. the other candidates stay they understand as well. three debates coming in, including our tea party event. so there will be plenty of chances to watch them go back and fort. i think a missed opportunity to see what differences he wow outleaned on the key issues. whether it be the foreign policy, or the big question, jobs and the economy. >> that's certainly the big question. thanks very much. we'll see you later on "john king usa" donna and will will be

back with us in a little while. let me just point out one week from today. the cnn presidential debate along with the tea party express. several tea party group. only here on cnn, governor perry will be attending that debate as well. is the president spoke to a friendly audience in michigan at a union event in detroit. our chief white house correspondent jessica yellen is there. he was pretty warmly received in detroit. >> he really was, wolf. and you know, labor day is traditionally the kickoff to campaign season. the president came to detroit and delivered a campaign style speech. >> as long as i'm in the white house, i'm going to stand up for collective bargaining.

>> for a moment, it seemed like old finals temperature -- old times. >> four more years! four more years! >> the president took his sharpened message out for a test drive. >> we have roads and bridges across this country that need rebuilding. labor is onboard, business is onboard. we just need congress to get onboard. >> if they don't act, he all but threatened to campaign against a do-nothing congress. >> the time for washington games is over. the time for action is now. no more manufactured crisis, no more games. it's time for them to stop worries about their jobs. it's time for them to worry about your jobs. >> the people in michigan really need a hand. we need work, we want work. that's all. we don't want a handout, we want

jobs. >> in michigan, unemployment statewide is 10.9% in the greater detroit area, it's 15.7%. and the picture for african-americans is even worse. 40% in detroit are unemployed. the president's closing message seemed to have meaning both for them and for his own team. >> i don't know about you, but i'm not scared of tough times. >> i'm not scared of tough times because i know we're going to be all marching together and walking together and working together and rebuilding together. >> if you might recall in 2008, the president won this state, michigan, by 17 points. but right now, the latest statewide polling shows that his job approval is at an anemic 34%. he needs this state if he's going to win. the so it's no surprise he's

here today. >> it's one of those states like ohio, pennsylvania, he's going to be visiting a lot presumably in the coming months as well. >> he used to get numbers four years ago, shall we say? >> no, it wasn't the same kind of crowd, wolf. it was crowded but it wasn't teeming and killed for blacks and blacks and blacks. it wasn't just that same kind of vibe. these folks were excited to see him. these are strong supporters but it wasn't that same kind of energy he used to get. >> what's next? he's coming back to washington. he's got some other events the day after his big speech thursday night. >> yes, he's gong to be campaigning closer to the washington area after his event. and we know, wolf, that he's going to be kicking off a series of events, not just right after the speech, but in the weeks

after to continue pushing his jobs message. and i said in the piece that if this congress doesn't pass it, he's going to campaign against essentially a do-nothing congress. he's going to push that, if they do not pass this, it's on them, not on him. he's going to press the theme that congress has to act and pitting himself against this congress in roy to get the jobs picture improved. >> i heard he's going to virginia on friday the day after the speech. in richmond, he's going to be in or near eric cantor's congressional district in 2008, a state he obviously needs if he's going to be re-elected as well. in mmy, all these state, and jessica will be working hard as well, covering in all of these states. jessica, thanks very much. when president obama lays out his new jobs plan to a joint session in congress, thursday night, cnn will join it night. right here in the situation room at 6:00 p.m. eastern.

stand by to see for yourself the reason governor rick perry missed the republican presidential candidates forum. we'll go live and have a report on the raging texas wildbier. there's a massive blaze. it's now spreading closer and closer to the state capital. it's destroying lots of homes along the way. stay with us. you're in "the situation room." operatic aria ) ( singing along ) ( singing high note ) that should do it. enjoy your new shower. ( door opens, closes ) ♪ got so many scratches and scars ♪

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rick perry rushed back to texas today, destieding to skip the republican presidential candidate forum in south carolina. he's due to speak about the wildfires this hour. more than 35 fires are burning across texas including a massive blue jays near the state capital of austin. more on what's going on. jim, it looks pretty ominous, even behind you. >> yeah, wolf, take a look at this. we arrived an our ago to this epic wall of smoke coming across this wildfire here. just a for minutes ago, we learned 4 .6 homes have now been destroys. it's just amazing to see this

huge wall of smoke. i spoke to a firefighter earlier who spoke about a week-long battle. i spoke to a father and son who are certain their home is destroyed. >> what's it like to go through this firsthand? >> it's like still in shock. it's hard to believe right now. i know nobody got hurt, which is wonderful. just have to wait. >> you never know what it's like. >> we know governor perry is being briefed right now. we expect to hear from him within the hour. indeed, tomorrow, wolf a federal

firefighting team will be here to take over this fire. it will be very difficult until these drought conditions. >> how does this fire compare to previous wildfires in texas? >> well, the real thing that you don't want is a wildfire that matches up with a populated area. unfortunately, this is stunning. 476 homes destroyed in just over a day of fire. that's the real thing, when it lines up like that. i covered a luge fire in arizona. but it was mostly in wooded areas. this is really the worst case scenario, when you have these horrible drought conditions, heat, high winds, fire meeting up with a populated area. wolf? >> thanks. a tropical storm that fanned the flames in texas is causing severe flooding right now.

tropical storm lee is still packing heavy rains, possibly -- get this -- tornadoes as it moves east. reynolds wolf is on the scene for us in jackson, mississippi. so what happened in jackson, reynolds? >> the biggest situation we had in jackson, mississippi, is flash flooding that took place earlier in the day. an apartment community of 28 haems as waters came in and started to rise. waters began to drop quickly. people were allowed back in with some minimal damage, however, there was a fatality. the car got picked up and moved downstream. so one fatality. although the flooding here has been flash flooding, there's been additional flooding farther to the south. we have video for you out of louisiana. to be more specific, there was some coastal flooding. a lot of that came in. water that actually rose up to some of the doorsteps of many

communities they did have the sandbags in place and they were able to stem back some of the water, but some people weren't quite as lucky. reports of flooding not only in parts of mississippi and louisiana, but also into alabama. gulf shores, alabama, up to seven inches of rainfall. and we're beginning to see this begin to kind of change, shifting from a lit bit of a wind event to, of course, the flooding event and now again, you have the threat of tornadoes moving deeper into parts of the southeast. especially into alabama and of course, georgia. perhaps even the carolinas and tennessee before the evening ends. >> from wildfires to floods to tornadoes. hurrica hurricanes, we have earthquakes, i don't know what's going on right now. all right, thanks very mump. let's dig a little bit deeper right now. tropical depression lee is doing damage. our meteorologist is over at the weather center, just updating a little bit on the forecast. >> the forecast, we're recall concerned about tornadoes. they are producing damage. lee has lost its tropical characteristics and now we're

starting to get support in the upper atmosphere. tornadoes stay on the ground for a longer period of time. look at this video in our affiliate in the atlanta area. we've had at least two confirmed reports of toerprnadoes. we have damage of at least one person injured in woodstock, also a northern suburb of the atlanta metro area. about 100 homes have been destroyed. mostly roof damage, but word that a couple of homes were demolished and one man was safely rescued from his basement. tornadoes will be an ongoing threat through the night tonight. we have multiple warnings still in effect. including over here into athens. now, we will see the winds stay strong through texas tonight on the backside of this thing. but those should weaken off later on to noo eight. so better conditions for firefighters west by tomorrow.

here's the latest in rainfalls. we've seen upwards of a foot of rain already in louisiana, alabama. look at the big bullet in tennessee and throughout the appalachians more than five inches. you do get concerns in the higher elevations, too. we do have a threat then of mud slides. the northeast, we've got a cold front moving here. that's moving in an additional one to three inches of rainfall. that's going to stick around and causing a lot of travel problems. in atlanta, hartsfield, jackson and a lot of delays all the way up the east coast. hurricane katia has intensified and now becoming a major hurricanes. maximum winds around 115 miles an hour, not really bothering anybody out there right now. but we're going to get some big waves in this thing. this is going to be approaching the coast. there's a strong threat of rip

currents and also big waves. but it looks like it's going to make a nice big curve. so a swing and a miss on that one. >> when you say it looks like. i'm always a little skeptical. do the experts think it's going to do a miss. >> they hope there's a series of irk is circumstances that will keep it off the coast. >> al qaeda leader arrested that was reportedly set to do attacks on the united states. i'll spoke to a top official on the libyan transitional government. stay with us. uh, i'm in a timeout because apparently

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a small plane crash sparks a brushfire in california. what's going on? >> hi there, wolf. that plane went down about 100 miles north of los angeles, killing at least one person and sparking a brush fire that is now growing. residents of one area have been ordered to evacuate. and well over 1,000 acres have been burned. back stan is reporting the arrest of a leader. among the reported targets, oil and gas pipelines, dams and oil tankers. the white house is hailing the arrest as an example between the cooperation of the united states and pakistan.

pay t peyton manning will probably not play week one against the houston texans. manning is rehabbing from a neck surgery but his recovery has been a little slower than expected. i was talking to our producer and she was saying this is really going to hurt the folks in the fantasy football league, all those people who had peyton manning as their quarterback are saying ouch right now. >> ten years after 9/11, al qaeda sympathizers have their sights on libya right now and their stockpile of weapons. i'll ask the deputy prime minister about the enormous challenges after gadhafi. confidence. available in color.

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to join the race for the white house? and defaulting on a $5 million payment to a retiree fund and a prototype of iphone 5 goes missing. wait till you hear what happened to it. stand by. you're in "the situation room." in libya, forces are trying to consolidate power. one of biggest challenges for libya's new leadership is tracking down gadhafi himself. and joining us now in tripoli, the deputy prime minister, also the minister of oil and finance, the new government of libya. congratulations. i know this is an exciting time for you, but you still haven't captured gadhafi. do you know where he is?

he's inside libya. that's all i can tell you. and he has nowhere to go. we have many pressing issues. the rebuilding oof a country, that killer, that clown have nowhere to go. >> i guess you could either try him, execute him, send him abroad.

>> we want to do this right, wolf and to do it right means that no matter how much hatred that we have and no matter how much losses that we suffer, we wanted too it the right way and the legal way. we'll bring international observers. so that's how we're going to do it. >> so you want to try him inside libya. you don't want to be send him to the international criminal court in the hague into the netherlands where he could be tried for war crimes. you want to try him inside libya? >> we want to do that first and then after that, we will send imto the international court.

to the hague? >> definitely. why not? >> you could do to him what they did to saddam hussein in iraq. you could execute him. >> i'm not really sure. do we have a capital punishment or not? these are issues for the future. we want to see the rest of the world agree. i know the rest of the world agree, but it would be nice to see him somewhere in a cage and he's a thug and he's a killer. i think that would be nice. >> i assume the same goes for

saif and his other sons if you capture him. we already have a lot of other prisoners. i'm sure everybody will be brought to court. i don't think there would be any exceptions. i hope that we don't go for that personal revenge, which i carry in my heart. i hope that we're wise enough to start the new libya based on the rule of the law, no matter how much we dislike the outcome of that. >> some officials expressed concern about the security of gadhafi's chemical weapons and other weapons that it could get into the wrong hands. are you dealing with that issue? how concerned should we be? >> i don't think we should be

concerned. as far as i know, and maybe there are things that i don't know. there's really not a lot of chemical and mass destruction weapons as far as we know. so i'm not really too worried about this. what i'm worried about is actually much less than weapons of mass destruction. i'm worried about the arms, the personal arms and the proliferation of arms. i think that would be a serious challenge and a serious issue for the future rebuilding the country. of. >> let me just button up the issue of the sons. one of the sons suggested maybe he's involve in negotiations with the transitional government. is that true? >> no, it's not true. you know, you negotiate with

whoever it is that you negotiate with have something to offer. >> i'm glad that he thinks he's important enough. he would be happy he captured him alive and bringed him to court, which he didn't really offer to the libyan people. >> so give us an assessment minister. how much longer do you think the fighting in libya will go on. how much more internal violence will there be before you get to work rebuilding your country and trying to get elections and stable democracy. give us a little look ahead. >> that's really if there's something that's concerning. it's exactly that. every life counts. we paid for this freedom. we're still paying. my hope is that it's, you know, tomorrow. but realistically, we're looking at a week to two weeks before we

can say finally that this episode, this part of the history of libya is over. >> one final question before i let you go, minister. the convicted bomber of pan am 103, i don't know what his health is like now. we saw pictures of him. he looks like he's in dire straits right now. any chances you might be willing to extradite him into the united states, uk or some other country? >> i'm not really sure what is the outcome is. this is an issue that you need to discuss when things settle down and we have some due process that we're comfortable with. >> the minister of oil and finance of the new government in libya. good luck to all the people, good luck to you.

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let's go right to our strategy session. donna, thanks very much. another cnn tribute tor to the national review. thanks for joining us as well. let me play this clip from rick perry, a republican presidential candidate from earlier today before that republican forum in south carolina, which he had to skip to get back to texas to deal with the wildfires there. but earlier in the day, he took a direct swipe at mitt romney, arguably his main challenger for the republican nomination. >> there's going to be some that got to get up and say well, i've created jobs. and that's true. one in particular that's created jobs all over the world. while he was the governor of massachusetts, he didn't create very many jobs.

we cannot choose a nominee, let me put it that way. that's going to blur the lines between this president and our nominee. it has to be someone who has very stark difference between the president of the united states and our nominee. >> are you surprised he's not directly going after mitt romney on those issues, outskoursing jobs or his health care plan in massachusetts, which the president says he modelled the national health care plan on? >> no, i'm not surprised because romney and perry are the two front-runners and both trying to paint themselves as the anti-obama. i'll say this, wolf. what does it mean to be the andy obama. you understand the relationship, the philosophical relationship between government and its people.

conservatives would be skeptics of the government's role in economics. and rick perry has used the texas enterprise fund to bribe businesses to come to texas. you can't just point out the flaws in your opponents to be an anti-obama. you have to have the substance as well. perry might have the right convictions but his record is not sterling. >> i assume it's going to get pretty tough between now and the iowa and new hampshire, south carolina. donna, you saw this on the democratic side four years ago. now it looks like the republicans are going to have their own little food fight, shall we call it. >> the preseason is over with. with we're now sbointo real tim nomination. rick perry is going to run as the anti-obama candidate, anti-romney candidate. he's going to run as the jobs candidate. using his executive experience.

the truth is as many people know in texas, 19% of the growth in jobs came in the public sector. >> what do you think donna is a potentially bigger challenge to the re-election? >> i think the democrats are running as if one of the top three, top four candidates including may shell bachmann and who knows, sarah palin if she gets in might be the nominee. a. >> i would assume the general nominee is the key right no uh. they could go ahead and nominate somebody who has an enormously great conservative tea party credentials. but if that person is going to lose, you know, what good is that from the republican perspective? >> yeah, wolf, i have to say. >> this is a healthy debate amongst conservatives about who

should be leading the movement and hopefully leading the country. i think romney and perry have a legitimate debate between them. i think both of them have a good shot at beating a very vulnerable president. the numbers for obama are historically bad for re-election potential. donna just pointed to that. i think both of these guys are electable. perry has a greater likelihood of shooting himself in the foo foot between now and election day. we'll see how that works out. >> these words are causing a huge uproar. >> we've got to keep an eye on the battle we face, a war on workers. you see it everywhere, it's the tea party. there's only one way to beat and win that war. the one thing about working people is we like a good fight. and you know what, they' eve got

a war with us. it's going to be the workers of michigan and america. we're going to win that war. >> president obama, this is your army. we are ready to march. and president obama, we want one thing -- jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs! that's what we're gong to tell him. when he sees what we're doing here, he will be inspired. but he needs help. and you know what, everybody's got to vote. when we go back and keep an eye on the prize, let's take these sons of bitches out and take america back to where america belongs. >> that last line is causing a huge uproar. >> jimmy hoffa's remarks are inexcusable and an amount to a

call for violence on many tea party members. we've called on president obama to condemn this uncivil rhetoric which has no place in the public forum. he should chastise mr. hoffa, his vice president and the other obama supporters who have been outrageous in their comments. you're looking at me and you're getting ready to -- what do you think about this? was james hoffa over the line in saying those lines, let's take these sons of a bitches out and get america back to where we belong. >> every time the progressives take a punt, the republicans pride and whine and say stop hitting us, stop beating us. he was talking about his members, h his worker, the unions. they're under attack each and every day with their jobs and their health care and their pensions. and he was rallying them to say we're going fight, going to continue to fight.

>> you think donna is right, will? >> no, i don't. only about a year or so ago, we had a call for civility and a new tone. i will agree with don that he probably had some substantive statements there in his criti e critique. when the congressional black caucus had to say something, there was no substance behind that. as a conservative, we're not very happy with the state of unions in the country right now and we would like to see some reform there. >> but organized happy is not -- workers is not happy with the state of the working members. they talk about what we could do to both the private and public sector. they're talking about 17% of african-americans being unemployed. they have a lot of substance. unfortunately, the tea party and many others are not listening to members of the black caucus. >> we'll continue this

discussion down the road. guys, thanks very, very much. don't forget, one week from today, i'll monitor the debate. the republicans will be in tampa, only here on cnn. much more news coming up, including sarah palin. what's she up to on this labor day? more of our coverage right here on "the situation room" when we come back.

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on 9/11, it could have been a u.s. military fighter pilot who downed flight 39 in pennsylvania instead of the heroics actions of passengers. our pentagon correspondent chris lawrence spoke with a u.s. air force colonel who took off that day fearing, fearing he might have to shoot down fellow americans. >> scramble. scramble. >> reporter: from the moment the

siren sounds. flight crews are off and running. within seconds, fighter pilots have climbed into cockpits. the jets are armed, ready to fly. the squadron's sole mission is to protect the air space around washington, and it can scramble any time from andrews air force base. but ten years ago these planes were not part of an air defense squadron. no pilot had ever been trained to take down a commercial airplane. >> i clearly remember hearing on the emergency channel attention. anybody in washington, d.c. stay away outside of 30 or 40 miles, or you will be shot down. i say again you will be shot down. i remember thinking, man, i don't want to go out there, and then the somber realization that, man, i'm the shooter here.

>> reporter: you're the one who will be doing the shooting. >> that's not going to be a good day for team america if it goes that way. >> reporter: he was the chief flight instructor that day and watched the twin towers attacked in the andrews flight lounge. >> we have unconfirmed reports this morning snow get a call from the secret service, the white house, what did they say? >> anything you can airborne right now. the nation's under attack >> reporter: first two air force jets launched with no missiles, just their guns. >> running down the long sidewalk to our airplanes and seeing the acrid black smokerizing over the tree line coming from the pentagon. >> reporter: dan was third up after crews had to go get the missiles from the other side of the base. >> the munitions loaders hang missiles on the airplane with a fear but determination in their eyes. >> reporter: he lit the after burner and took off, flying 500 feet off the ground through washington. >> we were aware of several possible targets, or targets of

interest. >> reporter: the primary target was a 757 that had suddenly turned around in ohio and started to fly back towards the capit capital. dan and the other pilots may have had to intentionally kill dozens of americans to save thousands. were you prepared to stop a threat? >> yes, absolutely. >> reporter: even using your own plane, if you had to? >> yeah. to answer the question, to cut right to the chase. do i think we could have done anything? i'm always careful to say i don't know. i don't know whether we would have been able to detect them. i don't know whether we would have been able to position ourselves in a place to stop them and effectively execute an intercept. >> reporter: ultimately you didn't have to because of the passengers aboard united 93? >> there's not a day that goes by that we don't remember the sacrifice. >> reporter: chris lawrence, cnn, washington. >> and this note. the former vice president dick cheney will join me tomorrow here in "the situation room." we'll have an in-depth interview

on a lot of issues, including his recollections of what led to the invasion of iraq, the war on terror, much more tomorrow 5:00 p.m. eastern. only here on cnn. we're also following tornadoes right now hitting near atlanta. new images are just coming in. we're going to show them to you when we come back. what if we designed an electric motorcycle? what if we turned trash into surfboards? whatever your what if is, the new sprint biz 360 has custom solutions to make it happen, including mobile payment processing, instant hot spots, and powerful devices like the motorola photon 4g. so let's all keep asking the big what ifs. sprint business specialists can help you find the answers. sprint. america's favorite 4g network. trouble hearing on the phone? visit sprintrelay.com.

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want to quickly check in once again with our meteorologist jacqui jeras following some enormous damage in the atlanta area. what's going on? >> yeah. this is in the northern suburbs, wolf. a couple of tornadoes have moved through here, an they have produced some damage and at least one person has been injured. take a look at pictures. you're taking a lack at it with me for the first time as we take a look out of those from woodstock. one of our producers here at cnn, victoria kennedy, lives near where this damage was, and about 100 homes have received some of that damage. this has been mostly tree damage. a lot of roof tops. we're hearing that maybe two homes have been flattened in this, and at least one man was rescued from his basement at this time, so this is still a developing situation. power is out across the area, and, of course, a very busy time of day when a lot of people have been out and about. rainy day here in atlanta as well. now there is still a warning in

effect. very near where this damage occurred. that does include cherokee county. 30, 40-minute drive at best from the downtown area, and can you see a few warnings in eastern georgia and then on into the carolinas, so this storm system, you know, from the remnants of lee, wolf, and it's lost its tropical characteristics. we're starting to get some port from the upper levels of the atmosphere, and that's why we're seeing tornadoes stronger today that are staying on the ground for a little bit longer period of time. we'll show you where the watch boxes remain in effect, and this is until 11:00 tonight, so this is going to be ongoing for a while, and as people go to bed tonight, they need to make sure they have their noaa weather radios on and will wake up and are alerted when the warnings go off. the watch has been extended now through the western carolinas, including places like greenville, spartanburg, and we also have warnings down here along the florida coast. flooding continues to be a big deal with the remnants of this storm, too, and seeing a lot of

that all across the deep south and in the appalachians. >> thanks very much. and you're in "the situation room." happening now, she's sounding and acting more and more like a possible presidential candidates, but she still won't say if she's running, so how long can sarah palin keep it up, and at what cost do her support and her credibility? also, president obama offers his most revealing preview yet of his highly anticipated jobs plan which he'll unveil in only three days. and a missing iphone and uproar over a search of this home. it's no ordinary phone. now it has apple at thecontrove. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. breaking news, political headlines and jeanne moos all straight ahead. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." the presidential campaign is kicking into high gear on this

labor day for the republican candidates who hope to replace president obama, but it's sarah palin still not a candidate who is commanding attention, support that many of the declared candidates would probably almost certainly i should say envy. cnn's brian todd is tracking sarah palin and what's going on in her so-called non-campaign. so she was busy once again today, what, the third day in a row, she's out there in iowa and new hampshire. >> that's right, wolf. a high-profile speech today in new hampshire with plenty of read meat for the tea party crowd, following a similar event in iowa on saturday. for someone who is not in the race, at least not yet, sarah palin is stealing lots of thunder from the gop candidates and as always she's succeeding in getting us to pay attention to her. >> he can't stop us. she he's hitting the crucial early decision stops in iowa and new hampshire, sounding out themes popular with the tea party. >> we believe that the government that governs least

governs best. >> reporter: sarah palin hasn't said if she'll jump into the presidential race, but some in this crowd tried to push her along. >> run, sarah, run. >> i appreciate your encouragement. >> reporter: in iowa and new hampshire she's pounded on the ideas of reducing the role in government and cutting taxes but hasn't given special fix on what she would do to meet those goals. we called and e-mailed palin's representatives to get specifics and find out if she's jumping into the gop race or not and we didn't hear back. how long can she keep her supporters wond centering. >> showing a lot of ankle but can only do that so long. people eventually sense they are being teased and they will fade back from that. >> reporter: palin is specific when she blames president obama for more spending, more regulation, but was the president her only target when she repeatedly said this in iowa and new hampshire? >> let's invite candidates who

refudiate the crony capitalism and the corporate welfare and the waste and the corrupt politics and the government bailouts for their buddies. >> some analysts believe the phrase crony capitalism is a swipe from palin at texas governor rick perry who jumped into the race and straight into the lead. political opponents have long accused perry of rewarding his allies and campaign donors with government posts and contacts. he said he and perry are friends, she once campaigned for him and must be talking about washington politicians, not about perry's record of job creation and fiscal conservatism. palin has taken subtle jabs at mitt romney recently leading to thoughts she might be losing some ground to the three gop candidates leading in the polls. is she eclipsed already by

perry, bachmann and romney? >> she's the original tea party candidate. she's got clout she can exercise even with the other candidates in the race. >> reporter: analysts point out if and when palin jumps in, she may get the same kind of instant boost in the polls that perry got, that she would likely command much more media attention than any candidate. palin has previously indicated she plans to make a decision about the presidential race possibly by the end of this month, wolf. we may hear something soon after all these months. >> she doesn't have a whole lot of time left. getting some criticism from her colleague at fox news. she's a contributor to knocks news. karl rove is a couldn't contributor at fox news and he's suggesting she's a little thin-skinned. >> has enormous thin skin. would get upset if we speculate about it and if we didn't speculate about her. this is after palin's group slammed rove for predicting that she was going to run for president. between that and her swipes at some of the other gop candidates

hard to know where she stands in the party at this point. like always with sarah palin, it's all about reading tea leaves because her people don't come out and engage with the media that much. >> even though she's toying with the idea of running, openly saying she hasn't made up her mind, still a contributor at fox news, haven't dumped her like rick santorum or newt gingrich. she's still on the payroll. >> all of this keeps speculating about her, keeps her name out there. good for the people who she's working with, good for the book sales and for everything else. kind of works for her in the media world. >> i write about her on my blog at cnn.com/situationroom if you want to go check it out. >> i'll do it. >> brian, thanks very much. five of the declared republican candidates were in columbia, south carolina today for a forum organized by senator jim demint, a leading tea party conservative. all of them cited the declaration of independence and its determination of god-given rights as the foundation of the american government and all of them talked about what they would do to change the country, if they were president. here's a sample.

>> the federal government is spending far in excess of what it takes n.areas of government would include, for instance, i believe the department of education because the constitution does not specifically enumerate nor does it give to the federal government the role and duty to superintend over education. that historically has been held by the parents, and by local communities and by state government. >> i happen to believe that this administration is weakening america militarily. this is not what americans want. the world is not safer. so we should not be a weaker nation. >> i also would look very carefully at jefferson in 1802, passes the judicial reform act of 1802 which eliminates 18 out of 35 federal judges. doesn't impeach anybody. just says this court does not meet and will not be appropriated for you so go home. the judges who were going to get those jobs promptly tried to

file suit and the remaining 17 judges said to them are you crazey? if we accept your lawsuit, jefferson will eliminate our court. now, i am not -- i want to be clear here. i am not as bold as thomas jefferson. i would do no more than eliminate judge berry in san antonio and the ninth circuit. that's the most i would go for. but let me say this because i think this has to be part of our national debate. that's not a rhetorical comment. i believe the legislative and executive branches have an obligation to defend the constitution against judges who are tyrannical and who seek to impose un-american values on the people in the united states. >> we're living now with a third or fourth generation that have been taught that entitlements are right and liberty and rights don't have anything to do with entitlements. entitlements means that you can take somebody else's money, you

know, and the government is there to redistribute it. >> what would you change about our foreign policy? >> a lot. first, i'd have one. >> okay. >> i mean, the president has been reactive, and any time there's a reactive approach to foreign policy, sometimes you get it right, sometimes you get it wrong. i'm glad he got osama bin laden. he was opposed to the surge in iraq, but fortunately he pursued a surge in afghanistan. but the president has with regards to the arab spring not had a policy. >> the front-runner in the race for the republican presidential nomination, the texas governor, rick perry bowed out of the forum at the last minute as he returned home to deal with wildfires that have destroyed some 300 homes in his state. before he left south carolina, though, he did speak at a town hall and he took a direct swipe at his closest rival in the polls, the former massachusetts governor mitt romney.

>> there's not anybody that's going to be standing on the stage, whether it's in california this week or throughout -- and listen, they are all very good men and woman. i greatly appreciate their throwing the hat in the ring and loving their country, or if it's this -- or next fall with the president of the united states, the current president. there is no one going to be signature on the stage who has the record of job creation that i have. there's going to be some that got up -- get up and say, well, i've got the jobs, and that's true. there's, you know, one in particular that's created jobs all over the world, but while he was the governor of massachusetts he didn't create vice principal jobs. >> taking a direct swipe at mitt romney. let's get a little bit more with what's going on with our political reporter in columbia, south carolina right now. how did romney do at that forum, that forum that senator demint sponsored today because he's not

naturally a fit for so many of those tea party supporters. >> reporter: exactly. these tea party events are not typically in mitt romney's wheelhouse. he has tried to step up his appeal to tea party activists the last couple of weeks after rick perry has leapfrogged him in the polls. romney actually did pretty well. hit a lot of tea party notes. kind of veered a little bit on a moderate course at times, you know. tea party activists are very critical of the regulatory climate, and mitt romney urged caution a bit and said, you know, we do need some regulations in the federal marketplace, but, you know, all of us down here were really waiting for romney to address the topic of the health care law he passed in massachusetts when he was governor, and i've got to tell you, it was an amazing spectacle to see senator jim demint, a romney supportner 2008, come down here and grill romney on the health care law. i mean, that's pretty

incredible, and the fact that romney came down here to kiss the ring of a guy who backed him four years ago is really telling about the influence that jim demint has in the republican party right now hand how much things have changed for the gop in the last four years, wolf. >> i would dispute one thing. demint didn't exactly grill him. asked him one question at the very end. had 55 seconds left to answer it. they didn't go into any of the debates over mandates by states, so it was basically a relatively easy question for mitt romney to handle because they -- the clock was in his favor. they simply ran out of time. let's talk a little bit though about sarah palin. when she goes after candidates, in her words, crony capitalism type candidates. is that a code word for the front-runner rick perry? >> reporter: absolutely it is. i mean, sarah palin does not talk to very many people in the media, but palin allies have told me that that speech was crafted to directly go after rick perry who, as brian mentioned in his piece, has been

attacked by critics in the past for rewarding his political donors and allies with government jobs and contracts and that sort thing, so palin, you know, who came to power in alaska in 2006 is kind of this outsider populist maverick, was really trying to capture some that have political brand and carve out some space for her in that republican field if she does run. you saw her give a back-handed compliment to mitt romney saying he's kind of late to the game when it comes to reaching out to the tea party movement, so, you know, we still have to see whether she's going to enter the race. it's going to come down to her and todd palin. only they know. her staff don't know. it's wait and see. trying to lay the groundwork and create some political space for her in case she does run. >> good point. peter it out on the campaign trail covering all of this fours, doing an excellent job. the republican canned day, by the way, they will face off one

week from tonight in tampa, florida. i'll be the moderator when cnn hosts the republican presidential debate, along with the tea party express monday night, september 12th, 8:00 p.m. eastern only here on cnn. president obama spent part of this labor day rallying union supporters in detroit. he defended organized labor, vowed to fight for america's middle class and previewed his highly anticipated jobs initiative which he will formally unveil in a speech before a joint session of congress thursday night. listen to this. >> on thursday we're going to lay out a new way forward on jobs to grow the economy and put more americans back to work right now. i don't want to give everything away right here because i want y'all to tune in on thursday. but i'll give you just a little

bit. we've got roads and bridges across this country that need rebuilding. we've got private companies with the equipment and the manpower to do the building. we've got more than 1 million unemployed construction workers ready to get dirt right now. there is work to be done, and there are workers ready to do it. labor is on board. business is on board. we just need congress to get on board. let's put america back to work. last year -- last year we worked together. republicans and democrats to pass a payroll tax cut, and because of that this year the average family has an extra $1,000 in their pocket because of it. but that's going to expire in a few months if we don't come together to extend it.

and i think putting money back in the pockets of working families is the best way to get demand rising because that then means business is hiring and that means -- that means that the economy is growing, so i'm going -- i'm going to propose ways to put america back to work that both parties can agree to, because i still believe both parties can work together to solve our problems and given the urgency of this moment -- given the hardship that many people are facing folks got to get together. but we're not going to wait for them. we're going to see if we've got some straight shooters in congress. we're going to see if congressional republicans will put country before party.

we'll give them a plan, and then we'll say do you want to create jobs and put our construction workers back to work rebuilding america. do you want to help our company succeed? open up new markets for them to sell their products. you want -- you say you're the party of tax cuts. well, then prove you'll fight just as hard for tax cuts for middle class families as you do for oil companies and the most affluent americans. show us what you've got. >> the president speaking today in detroit. when the president, by the way, lays out his new jobs plan before a joint session of congress thursday night, cnn, of course, will carry it live. don't miss our special coverage. it will all begin right here in "the situation room" 6:00 p.m. eastern thursday night. severe weather news just coming into "the situation room." damaging tornadoes happening near atlanta. we're working the story. stay with us. also, ties between the cia and libya's gadhafi revealed in

shocking documents discovered in tripoli. we'll update you. plus, the search of this home sparks major controversy with apple and its new iphone 5 right at the center of the uproar. stay with us. you're in "the situation room." it can get really complicated. not nearly as complicated as shipping it, though. i mean shipping is a hassle. not with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service. if it fits it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. that is easy. best news i've heard all day! i'm soooo amped! i mean not amped. excited. well, sort of amped. really kind of in between. have you ever thought about decaf? do you think that would help? yeah. priority mail flat rate shipping starts at just $4.95, only from the postal service. a simpler way to ship.

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rick perry, the governor of texas, is speaking about the wildfires there near the capital of austin. i want to listen in briefly. >> people's lives, pets, livestock, and frankly legacies of generations to come can be put in jeopardy, and we can lose those. so in that same vain i want to ask anyone who is in harm's way to listen to the evacuation orders. obviously in texas we allow for local control. it's going to be the county judge who makes the final call, but i join him in saying that those who have lost electrical power, obviously that there is a reason for that happening and for people to really pay

attention to the sheriff's office is going to be going door to door, and -- and clearly sharing with people the jeopardy that they put themselves in. i -- i understand that losing your home, losing a lifetime possession is an incredibly difficult thing, but do not put your life in jeopardy for that. to our fire fighters again, i want it remind them of just great gratitude that the people of this state have for you. people from california, from all across this country are here helping us. i mean, this is the classic example of a neighbor helping neighbor and our -- our prayers are with them and for their well-being and certainly for their success in this -- in this mission and to those that have been displaced by this fire, those that have already lost homes know that we're going to

do everything we can. the next 72 hours are very important to those individuals. i think it's going to be wednesday before fema gets here and so, you know, find out what you can do to help your neighbor? there's a lot of things that you can do, whether it's putting them up or just taking care of them and loving on them, and there's a lot that texans will do to take care of texans over the course of the next 72 hours and i really appreciate you for doing that. we will pick up the pieces. we always do. whether it's a hurricane of monster size or whether it's floods or whether it's wildfires. we -- we will pick up the pieces. we will rebuild and -- and with -- with that rk, stan stang

here, i'll let him come up and share the current state of affairs, not just with this fire but across the state. so if you could, take the mike, our chief of emergency management. >> there you heard the governor of texas rick perry speaking of what's going on. a heartbreaking situation in texas right now. staying on top of the wildfires in that state, and we'll update you late they are hour. i want to bring in lisa sylvester, monitoring some other top stories in "the situation room" including, what, tornadoes in georgia on top of everything else. floods, wiles fires, hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes. >> yeah. seems like it's never ending, right, wolf? >> lee is breaking up over the southeast, but before fading it will drop buckets of rain on the region with maximum sustained winds of 35 miles per hour. this storm is a tropical depression now but still packs a punch. one person was killed as floodwaters swept away a vehicle in mississippi. more than 100 homes were damaged in suburban atlanta, as we

mentioned, when a tornado touched down there. hurricane katia meanwhile has strengthened to a category 3 storm but is likely to drift out to sea. iran says it connected its nuclear reactor to the country's electrical grid saturday night. that would make it the first middle eastern country to produce commercial power from a nuclear plant. the reactor is eventually expected to supply 2.5% of the country's power needs. the announcement comes just days after the u.n. nuclear watchdog cited increasing concerns that iran may be developing nuclear weapons. wolf? >> thanks very much, lisa, for that. the fall of moammar gadhafi exposed some secrets that the cia preferred to keep quiet. new documents have just been found in tripoli reveal a koez and very troubling relationship between american spies and libya's own intelligence network, and this was once an unanimous compound in a dusty pakistani town until america's

most infamous enemy was found behind its walls. some in pakistan want to see it sink, sink into obscurity again. our correspondent is just back. a vacation on a budget with expedia. make it work. booking a flight by itself is an uh-oh. see if we can "stitch" together a better deal. that's a hint, antoine. ooh! see what anandra did? booking your flight and hotel at the same time gets you prices hotels and airlines won't let expedia show separately. book it. major wow factor! where you book matters. expedia.

in libya, the fall of the capital has revealed horrible abuses by the gadhafi regime. now we've discovered -- umts that the cia was sending terror suspects to libya for interrogation. our senior international correspondent ben wedeman is joining us now from tripoli. ben, what are you finding out? >> reporter: well, what we're finding out, wolf, is that in

the messy aftermath of moammar gadhafi's escape from tripoli, that there are some documents coming to the surface that certain people would like to remain in the dark. they didn't have much time to shred many documents in the headquarters of libya's main spy agency. in fact, most of the contents of the building are in tact. it all amounts to a treasure trove of information about the shadowy world of cooperation between the world's spies. we're in the basement of the libyan external intelligence agency. it's like being in the basement of the cia, and here we've got access to all sorts of documents, letters, faxes and other communications between the cia and its libyan counterparts, top secret documents, secret documents, with names and dates and all sorts of details that some people probably don't want to be made public. and that relationship was, it

appears, cozy. peter buqhart photographed hundreds of documents from external intelligence run for years by moussa koussa who fled libya last spring. >> moussa koussa was on a first name basis with the ci a&m i-6. there's christmas greetings in here. there's documents saying thanks for the oranges you sent. >> reporter: the u.s. and libya were at odds for years but relations warmed dramatically after libya renounced its program for weapons of mass destruction in late 2003 when kusa starting core spending with then cia director porter goss. libya signed up for the global war on terror, but just how eger is made clear by the documents uncovered in tripoli. >> they established conclusively what we've been saying for a long time, that the cia was

capturing and rendering people to libya so they could be interrogated by libyan security, and we even have the cia questions they send to be asked to these suspects, that they rendered to libya. >> reporter: one of those sent by u.s. officials to libya was alleged libyan islamic militant abdullah al sadik. the u.s. detained him and then handed him over to libya. he now heads the rebel military council in tripoli. rights groups and the u.s. state department regularly accused libyan security services of these systematic use of torture. bashir sharif was not part of the extraordinary rendition programs, but he experienced the torture firsthand.

he showed us how he was beaten to his knees in triply's infamous prison where he was held from 1984 to 2001. a cia spokeswoman decomplained -- declined to comment on the specifics of the documents in tripoli but added, quote, it can't come as a surprise that the central intelligence agency works with foreign governments to help protect our country from terrorism and other deadly threats. among spies there's no such thing, it seems, as a strange bedfellow. and, wolf, more documents are coming to the surface. this in fact is a trip report by a libyan army officer who went to beijing in july to cut an arms deal with the chinese despite the u.n. embargo. so lots of stuff coming to the surface here in tripoli, a i'm sure there's more on the way. >> just the beginning, ben, of

this treasure troefrks but based on what you and the other experts have seen so far, this collaboration between the cia and gadhafi's spies, was it more prevalent during the bush administration or during -- it it continue basically more or less during the obama administration? >> reporter: well, it's not clear because apparently the mode of communications between the cia and the libyan external security agency changed from faxes to e-mails, and -- and it's very difficult now because of all the attention on this subject, it's not possible to get into that external intelligence agency anymore. however, some of the people who first got in there actually got into the computers and were able to brows around, and they did say that there was communications much more recent, some of it in fact not -- just a

few months old whereby libyan officials were pleading with the americans to stop the bombing raids, but it's hard to tell how much of it changed under the obama administration. >> ben wedeman on the scene for news tripoli, fascinating material. thank you. just months ago the house where bin laden was killed was certainly in the world spotlight, but now that the ten-year anniversary of 9/11 is approaching, it's once again cloaked in secrecy. >> reporter: the town of abbottabad has had its secret. this is the man who was behind september 11th lived for years, his house raided by u.s. navy zales, the world asking how did bin laden live here so long? and where they train in a climate of fierce nationalism, once again with its secrets, it seems. the army now surrounds bin

laden's house, we're told, as we approach down the same back street that we freely roam the months earlier. the pakistani army's is keen to keep the house out of sight, perhaps out of embarrassment or maybe by now a little paranoia. it's eerily quiet though. we catch a glimpse of the house. bushes growing thick around, it almost like they are trying to swalo the secret again, but out of nowhere we're stopped by a soldier. we have been very quickly stopped by the police here, asked for our passports and told to leave. in fact, we've been asked to stay for a little while, all quite surprisingly given the fact that a few months ago this place was teeming with journalists. things have obviously changed. nobody feels the loss of anger more than bin laden's former

neighbors, some accused of being spies who helped the cia. this neighbor wasn't with you still wanted to stay unanimous. >> translator: the people who live right next door were picked up because they shared electricity and gas connections to the house. no one knows who arrested them. >> reporter: this is the alleged vaccine the cia spread across the town to try to get a sample of bin laden's down. a one of the two women who gave the injections told cnn she was hired by a doctor in peshawar. this was happy to be sampled >> translator: i think they probably needed our dna to hunt for owe sama so that's okay. >> reporter: the most high tech manhunt in history wounding the pakistani army's pride and leaving a taste in ordinary lives here. >> nick is joining us now live from islamabad. nick, i understand there's new information coming in on the pakistani government's arrest of

a top al qaeda leader. >> reporter: absolutely. they are announced today they arrested an external commander for al qaeda's efforts to attack the west, arrested in the suburbs of the southern city of quetta. a senior pakistani intelligence official saying to us there were no american boots on the ground during this operation, but the americans did provide what they referred to as technical help, helping them locate this man. he's considered behind plots to attack europe and more recently perhaps plots to attack united states energy infrastructure, oil pipelines, that sort of thing. he's currently in pakistani custody, and the same intelligence source says he may be sent back to moritania where he's from. there's a list of statements from pakistani military talking about their intimate warm relationships with the americans and it's been reciprocated from the warehouse who congratulate the pab -- pakistanis on their

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measures. lisa sylvester is here once again and is joining us with more on this crisis that's going on right here in the united states. what's it all about? >> yeah, that's right, wolf. there is, in fact, a congressional hearing tomorrow on how to save the u.s. postal service. the agency which does not rely on taxpayer funding is in dire straits. it's on the verge of defaulting on a $5 billion payment it's supposed to make to its retiree health fund. the postmaster general says he knows how to close the budget gap but needs congress' approval. the u.s. postal service is protepr projecting a $9 billion deficit for this physical call year. the agency is asking congress to take immediate action, beginning with lifting a mandate that requires the postal service to make billions in surplus payments to retiree health funds. without the legislative change, the postal service will go into default. we sat down with postmaster general patrick donahue who explained what this will mean. >> on september 30th if we do

not have relief from that fund, we'll not be able to make a payment of $5.5 billion to the federal government. we will pay our employees and we will play our suppliers because we're going to continue to deliver mail. >> reporter: but for how long in the reality is e-mail and electronic bill payments have taken a heavy toll on the postal service. to close its budget gap the postmaster general is also seeking congressional permission to end saturday delivery, to close 3,700 postal locations, to let go of 120,000 employees and restructure workers health benefits. there is strong pushback from the postal workers union whose contract includes a no layoff clause and ensures generous health care benefits. the american postal workers union calls the cost-cutting proposals a reckless assault on the postal service and postal employees. senator tom carper, chairman of the subcommittee overseeing the postal service, says something has to be done. >> if we do nothing, the postal service could literally close.

bouncing up against this $15 billion line of credit limit, and if we do nothing, then they will i think run out of money. >> reporter: if congress changed the 2006 law that requires the postal service to fully pre-fund the retirees health fund, that would take off some of the immediate financial pressure. the postmaster general says his agency is the only government entity required to fund retiree health benefits 75 years out. again, democrats and republicans and congress agreeing, especially with a looming dead line september 30th, is not very easy. the postmaster general and the head of the postal workers union will be among those testifying at tomorrow's hearing. >> they have to do something, no doubt about that. lisa, thanks very much. a missing top key secret iphone and a controversial search carried out at this home. it all puts apple in the middle of an uproar. stay with us. we'll explain right here in swam swoom. ♪

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what happened inside a san francisco home is at the center of a high-tech mystery involving apple's yet-to-be released iphone 5. our silicon valley correspondent

dan simon is in san francisco with some details. what are you learning, dan? >> reporter: well, wolf, if you look at the way product cycles go, apple is poised to release the next generation of its treasured iphone, the fifth generation, and now there are questions about whether an employee lost a prototype at this bar behind me, and the company's handling of the alleged incident. a new not yet for sale iphone would be considered priceless if it ever got into the hands of apple competitors who would love to take it apart and find out what's inside. so if reports that an ale employee lost an iphone 5 prototype are true, then whoever found it probably had no idea what he or she had stumbled upon. >> there was an ad that appeared on crakeslist offering the phone for $200 from a bruno heights residence and we think that's where it ended up. >> reporter: the technology website cnet report that had an apple employee lost the iphone

at kava 22, a bar in san francisco. >> appears to be you have a few too many drinks and you leave it behind. >> reporter: afternoonle wouldn't confirm the story but the san francisco police department put out a press release saying apple requested assistance in tracking down a lost item. four officers accompanied two apple employes to a san francisco home, and those employees went into the house to look for the lost item. none was recovered, but then the publication "sf weekly" interviewed a man who consented to his home being searched last month after who were identified as police officers. no one in the group identified themselves as apple employees. again, no comment from apple. this story may be a whole familiar. >> iphone 4. >> reporter: when steve jobs introduced the iphone 4 last year, he joked about whether anyone had seen it in advance. >> stop me if you've already seen this. >> reporter: that's because many had. >> hey, i'm jason chen.

this is the new iphone. >> reporter: an iphone 4 prototype was lost in a bar and wound up in the hands of the tech blog ghiz moto which paid $5,000 for the device. after that first incident there were all kinds of speculation about whether this was some kind of publicity stunt but you had two people arrested and charged with criminal misdemeanors, and there's also some speculation that there may be some publicity at play in this one, wolf, but you have the police involved so it may not be the case. back to you. >> stay on top of it. thank you very much. among the most popular cars in the world. now honda is recalling almost 1 million of them. stand by. we'll explain. explain. and a happy ending for happy feet. i remember the days before copd.

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lisa sylvester is back with other top stories in "the situation room" right now. lawyers in per uj yak, italy argued today over dna evidence which led to the conviction of american student amanda knox. prosecutors defended the evidence but defense lawyers insist the samples can't con clues civilly prove her guilt. in 2009, she was convicted of killing her roommate and sentenced to 26 years.

honda is recalling nearly 1 million cars worldwide. one problem involves power windows which could potentially catch fire, the other is a software glitch in stick shift cars. honda crvs and crz are impacted by the recall, so is the fut, a popular fuel efficient model. this is honda's second major recall in recent weeks. and happy feet is paddling home after alex traary adventure. the way ward penguin was released into his native waters on sunday. you may remember happy feet was found back in june, exhausted and hungry on a new zealand beach. he had traveled more than 1800 miles from his native antarctica. happy ending for happy feet. >> thanks very much, lisa. a strange move on the hard court. jeanne moos is next with some of the odd moments at the u.s. open. [ indistinct talking on radio ]

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lower in the middle of a press conference, it was unlike anything we'd seen before. unlike the time marie osmond just fainted. on "dancing with the stars," people are always fainting in public from a spelling bee finalist to a guest on glenn beck's old show. to audience members lulled into unconsciousness by politicians. >> everybody agrees are there. >> but nadal didn't pass out. he cramped up. grimacing. covering his face with his arm. and repeatedly sighing. >> can i do anything? >> no. >> he did ask someone to call the trainers. >> forget tennis elbow. nadal has set a new standard of pain for the leg cramp. you know that thing most of us have at night in bed? >> not going to twist and you get up. let me walk this off, let me walk this off. and you're like --

>> except nadal couldn't even walk, he slid to the floor crampin cramping. >> after almost ten minutes of massage, ice packs and gatorade, naddal was fine. he told cbs sports that the humidity during the match he just won was probably to blame. and he said he gets cramps often. >> yeah, a lot of times, yeah, nothing new. but you know, not during the press conference. >> there was more spastic muscle cramping at the u.s. open. oh, wait, that's dancing, and the spectator in the stands was imitated on the court by novak djokovic. the two later danced together. of course, rafael nadal's tennis cramp could have happened at an even worse time. what if his leg stiffened during one of his